Students Confront Dershowitz Over Article

For the second time in a week, Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz faced student protestors denouncing his position on terrorism in Israel.

About 15 students met Dershowitz outside Science Center B before yesterday’s meeting of Religion 1045, “Thinking About Thinking,” which Dershowitz co-teaches with Agassiz Professor of Geology Stephen J. Gould and Thomas Professor of Divinity Harvey G. Cox.

The students were protesting a Mar. 11 op-ed in the Jerusalem Post in which Dershowitz suggested Israel issue a moratorium on retaliation from terrorist attacks for about five days. If terrorists then resumed their attacks, Dershowitz said, then for every attack Israel should bulldoze a Palestinian village that had been “used as a base for terrorist operations”—after giving the residents 24 hours to leave. In addition, he suggested that Israel announce a “waiting list” of villages to be bulldozed in the event of further terrorist attacks.

The students held signs reading “Justice for Palestine” and “Destroying villages: Destroying lives” and distributed copies of the op-ed and their responses to Dershowitz’ statement. The protest was not generated by any particular student group, the protesters said.

“We’re a group of conscientious individuals from all religious and ethnic backgrounds,” said Nader R. Hasan ’02, one of the protesters.

The students said the mass punishment of civilians is against international law.

Dershowitz defended his position in front of the group.

“I don’t want any violence or destruction of a single home,” he said.

The protesters also pressured Dershowitz during the question and answer period of the class.

Hasan asked Dershowitz to defend his position, given its potential conflict with international law.

After asking Hasan if he was enrolled in the class, Dershowitz said the question did not pertain to the topic of yesterday’s lecture on torture.

“We are not going to talk about that,” Dershowitz said.

But he did acknowledge the question with a brief response—“I very strongly believe in the collective accountability,” he said.

After the class, Dershowitz acknowledged the right of student protest but called Hasan’s question in the middle of the class inappropriate.

Dershowitz also said he had not yet been approached by students to discuss the topic in a formal manner.

“I don’t think they have the guts to debate me,” he said.

This protest followed another protest of his article by members of Justice for Palestine, a Harvard Law School group.

Last Thursday, that group protested one of his law school classes.

—Staff writer Zachary Z Norman can be reached at znorman@fas.harvard.edu.